Mounting of fans controlled by the rotation of vehicle wheels



Feb. 13, 1951 E. BOBARD' 2,541,741

MOUNTING oF FANS coNTRoLLED By THE RoTATIoN 0E VEHICLE WHEELS Filed Feb. ll, 1948 Patented F eb. 13, "1951 MOUNTING OF FANS CONTROLLED BY THE ROTATION OF VEHICLE WHEELSy Emile Bobard, Beaune, France Application February 11, 1948, Serial N o.l 7,674 In France February 20, 1947 4 Claims. y(01.21%6-35) It has already been proposed to mount pumps, fans and like apparatus carried by vehicles inside the body of the wheel of the vehicle by which they are carried so as to be controlled automatically through the rotation of said Wheel. My invention has for its object improvements in such a system applicable to the case of a fan.

According to my invention, the body of the fan and the casing for the speed multiplying gear driving the blades of the fan form a non-rotary hub for the wheel. Inside the hub an axle or spindle turns and carries a driving gear meshing with a speed multiplying gear inside the casing. My invention covers also a particular clutch system for the fan allowing it to be driven or held fast as desired when the wheel rotates.

I have shown by way of example in accompanying drawings a preferred embodiment of said invention. In said drawings:

Fig. 1 is an elevational View with the casing removed, y

Fig. 2 is a cross-section along line II-II of Fig. 1.

As apparent from the drawing, a stationary axle I of the vehicle carries a two part casing 2-2 formed with coaxial hub elements at 3y and 3. The hub elements carry the wheel spindle 4 through the agency of ball bearings 5 and 5. A wheel-carrying plate 6 is keyed to the end of the spindle 4 and the wheel itself l (shown in dotted lines) is secured to said plate 6 in the usual manner. The casing part 2 is designed so as to form the housing of the fan; in other words it includes an inner annular chamber 8 assuming the shape of a volute or curl inside which may rotate the blades 9 of a fan carried by a disk Ill rigid with a core Ill secured to a sleeve I I adapted to rotate round the spindle 4 and coaxially therewith.

The casing part 2 encloses a speed multiplying gear system. This gear system comprises a gear wheel I2 rigid with the spindle 4 and meshing with a pinion I4 mounted loosely on a spindle I5 which is rigid with a rotary drum-forming plate I6 coaxial with the spindle 4. To frictonally retard or to hold fast the plate I6 a metal strip I'I secured at one end to a stationary pin I8 and adapted to be contracted or expanded as desired by the spindle I9 provided for said purposes and carrying the control lever 20.

The pinion I4 is rigid with a gear wheel 2| meshing with a pinion 22 mounted loosely on an axle 23 also carried by the rotary plate I6. This pinion 22 rotates With a gear wheel 24 which is in mesh with a last pinion 25 rigid with the fan blade carrying sleeve II. Possibly a plurality of speed multiplying sets may be mounted in star formation on the plate I6 round the wheel spindle 4.

It is thus apparent that through the agency of such speed multiplying gears the comparatively slow rotation of the Wheel 'I drives into rapid rotation the sleeve I I and the blades 9 of the fan provided the plate I6 is held fast. If not, that is if the drum I6 is released and allowed to rotate freely, the system of speed-modifying gears will rotate freely without producing any significant rotation of the fan blades and hence the fan will not deliver any signicant amount of air.

Of course, my invention is 4by no means limited to a particular type of speed reducing gears nor to a particular clutch system.

What I claim is:

l. In a vehicle, the combination of a wheel for said vehicle, a chassis for said vehicle and a fan system including a stationary two-part housing. secured to the chassis, a hub arrangement rigid with said housing, a rotary spindle adapted to ro tate inside said hub and rigid with the Wheel, a fan adapted to rotate inside the housing coaxially with the rotary spindle, and a gear system adapted to transmit at multiplied speed the movements of the spindle to the fan blades.

2. In a vehicle, the combination of a wheel for said vehicle, a chassis for said vehicle and a fan system including a stationary two-part housing secured to the chassis, a hub arrangement rigid with said housing, a rotary spindle adapted to 1'0- tate inside said hub and rigid with the Wheel, a fan adapted to rotate inside the housing coaxially with the rotary spindle and a gear system within said housing adapted to transmit at multiplied speed the movements of the spindle to the fan blades with a given speed multiplication and means for retarding the rotation of one of the elements of said gear system within said housing to make eective the speed multiplying function of said gear system.

3. In a vehicle, the combination of a wheel for said vehicle, a chassis for said vehicle and a fan system including a two-part housing secured to the chassis, a hub arrangement rigid with said housing, a rotary spindle adapted to rotate inside said hub and rigid with the wheel, a fan adapted to rotate inside the housing coaxially with the rotary spindle, and a gear system adapted to transmit the movements of the spindle to the fan blades With speed multiplication, said gear system comprising a gear wheel rigid with and carried coaxially by the wheel-carrying spindle,

a support coaxial with the rotary spindle rotatable inside the casing, at least one set of speed increasing gears adapted to operatively connect the gear-wheel on the spindle With the fan and rotatably mounted on the support, and friction means operable from the outside of the housing adapted to hold the support against rotation whereby to render effective the speed increasing function of the speed increasing gear system.

4. In a vehicle, the combination of a wheel for said vehicle, a chassis for said vehicle and a fan system including a stationary two-part housing secured to the chassis, a hub arrangement rigid with said housing, a rotary spindle adapted to rotate inside said hub and rigid with the Wheel, a fan adapted to rotate inside the housing coaxially with therotary spindle, and a gear system comprising at least one pinion nxed on a rotary plate adapted to transmit the movement of the spindle to the fan blades with speed multiplication, and means for retarding the rotation of said plate to make eective said speed multiplying gear system.

EMILE BOBARD.

y REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the l0 le of this patent:

UNITED lSTATES PATENTS Scott Apr. 15, 1913 

